


Save Me Sky Whale

by captainwithlipstick (johnlockasylum)



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: AO3 1 Million, AU, Cabin Pressure AU, F/M, M/M, Mermaids, cute idiots in love, mermaid in the flightdeck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-10
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 20:12:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1177427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnlockasylum/pseuds/captainwithlipstick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lost and confused mermaid meets a lost and confused airdot. Either the mermaid saved the airdot or the airdot saved the mermaid, no one's really keeping score.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Save Me Sky Whale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skywriter123](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skywriter123/gifts), [Princess_Cocoa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Cocoa/gifts).



> Well, this is the first fanfiction I've published in years and this is the first Cabin Pressure fanfiction and the first marlas and I have to say I absolutely had to publish this as a headcanon before and now I absolutely must publish this as the first chapter the of a multichaptered story. i'm not sure how many chapters there are going to be and it's gonna get even more marlas-y and there's gonna be explicit sex yes yes we are all excited let's get this started, shall we?

Many creature make their home in the depths off the coast of Key West. One of them just so happened to be a ginger. This ginger being would often come close to the surface and watched what the other side of the world was up to. They didn't seem to be much going on up though, mostly just flocks of seabirds. Occasionally he saw boats, but he avoided those. Boats carried monsters, he couldn't tell you who told him that, but he knew it had to be true. There was a lot of things this ginger creature couldn't tell you, but not because he was particularly secretive, or even stupid. He just couldn't remember. He couldn't remember his family or even his name, or if he ever actually had one. He had a gut feeling he did though, and he really just wanted to find them, or anyone really. He had be alone for a rather long time, probably years, but he couldn't bear to keep track of the time. Some days when he was lonely he would call out for others of his kind, but there was never a response and later he would sleep and dream in only colors and movements and feelings, never memories. He did remember some basic things, how to hunt (not very well), how to avoid being eaten (he had even less success in that regard, he felt as if he spent half of his life either swimming for his life or tending to his consequent wounds), how to avoid the monsters on the surface and one other thing. The one thing that kept him from letting the loneliness and desperation of his situation from sinking him into the deep. The sky whales.  


They were beautiful, he often came up near the surface to watch them. He knew they weren't birds, they were up too high. Not to mention they're wings didn't flap at all. they were whales, they had to be, they had no legs and were larger than life. But they lived in the sky. He had no concrete memories of where he must have met them or how he knew them before he lost his memories, but he must of, they were his friends! He often daydreamed that maybe they know where his family was. He was too afraid to call to them though, because to do that he would have to breach the surface, and he just… couldn't. _Fear of the unknown,_ he would sign to himself as he watched his friends fly and fly and _fly!_  


This particular day though, the whale wasn't flying, at least it wasn't anymore. He didn't actually see the crash, he had been fleeing a shark when he felt the vibrations. The water shook around him so violently the shark that had been chasing him fled and the creature looked up to the surface in shock and saw it. A sky whale at. the. surface! He clicked happily, barely containing his excitement as he swam toward it.  


Douglas Richardson was feeling less of a Sky God and more of an utter tosser as he gently glided gert-i onto the oceans surface nearly a hundred miles off the coast of Florida. He can hear Carolyn shouting at him from outside cockpit but his mind could’t seem to discern the actual words as he covers his hands with his face and breathes deeply in and out until he counts to ten. Afterwards he stands up and Carolyn opens the door into the cockpit.  


“You've radioed for help, I assume?” She asks, desperately trying to sound superior and unaffected by their brush with death just now, but her shaking frame betrays her.  


“Damn bird strikes,” Douglas muttered breathlessly facing the window, wishing he could sound more casual and less shaken than he really felt, “but yes I radioed it in.” He turned to face her trying to smile, but it came out as a pained grimace. “We have to go sit on a damn raft now, go tell Arthur to grab our bags.” Carolyn nodded and turned, doing her absolute darnedest to march back to Arthur with as dignified a gait as possible, but she was a little wobbly.  


“Wow, Douglas,” Arthur chatted amiably to him from the raft as Douglas stepped off of gert-i’s wings and onto their bright yellow raft. “This was sort of different wasn't it. I mean we got hit by a bird and crashed which is awful but we didn't die and we’re gonna get rescued and we get to sit on a raft for awhile and you landed us brilliantly! Which is all brilliant! Sort of a weird day huh?” Arthur smiled at Carolyn in Douglas in a vain attempt to get someone other than himself to look happy.  


Carolyn refused to engage with Arthur and continued to quietly grimaced at the water. Douglas on the other hand tried his best not to preen at Arthur's compliments, he really did. But Douglas was a sucker for compliments and Arthur knew it. “Yes well I did get to save day again, and even though” he made a sweeping gesture at gert-i, “that is rather normal, it is a little brilliant isn't it? Eh, Carolyn?” he wiggled his eyebrows already beaming alongside Arthur.  


Under gert-i things were about to be a lot less than brilliant for the ginger creature. He had been entirely awestruck by the sheer size of the sky whale but hadn’t quite gathered the courage to touch it yet because he was starting to worrying. He had done three laps around the whale and it hadn't responded to his proximity at all. It didn’t look alive. And there was a boat, and although he was being careful to stay out of it’s line of vision and watch it’s movement it made him nervous. He was currently as close to it has dared, several feet below it in between boat and the whales face, the hope of finding his family and re-initiating his friendship with the sky whales was starting to come into question when he felt a great and terrible pressure on his torso and force of impact enough to bring him a few feet closer to the surface with a great splash. The creature let out a pained high-pitched click as he looked down realize that the shark that had fled him earlier now had him.  
The MJN crew all turned at the sound of a great thrashing barely a foot from the starboard side of their raft.  


He had never been in a situation quite this desperate before. He was being swung in all directions as he fought back. His hands were free so he punched the shark as best he could. He could feel his torso being ripped apart and blood filled his vision. In a moment of clarity he could feel how close he was to the monster-filled boat and the sky whale were and how close he was to death. He knew that if the monsters saw you they took you out of the water, but that’s where the sky whale was and that’s where it was apparently going to stay and he realized _if it isn't going to come to me, then I’m just going to have to come to it_ and shot his hand out of the water and gripped the boat, because come monsters or whales or family, he was going to be in control of his fates. _Of Martin’s fate_ , a part of him whispered, deep within his unconsciousness.  


The raft dipped so rapidly and the weight dipping it so heavy that it very nearly tipped, but luckily Douglas was in this raft and he had always been a quick reactor. So when a bloody hand shot out of the bloody water they had all been watching Douglas didn't even have time to finish swearing before he watched his own hands grab for the smaller one and felt himself yanking and falling and Carolyn screaming and Arthur making a sort of “Uf!” sound as _something_ Douglas wasn't quite trusting enough of his eyes to think he was really seeing a damn tail fin hit Arthur rather violently in the nose because he was currently staring into some rather well, pretty green (or maybe blue or gray or purple?) eyes of a rather freckle-y ginger man who was now laying on top of him in between his legs, _which it didn't have_ , Douglas nearly said in abject horror, _legs._  


Douglas didn't want to believe that Arthur had been hit in the face by a mermaid. To be honest he didn't want to believe that mermaids were real even one bit. He rather liked his old worldview, it looked so simple now. But here he was. Douglas had begun to sit but the mer-, merman he realized guilty had seem to gone rather limp sliding down Douglas stomach to match his movement, his fin mostly on Arthur laps and the end of it barely touching Carolyn now soaked legs. Arthur was holding his bloody and now slightly crooked nose but was so uncontrollably excited over the course of the last few moments he was vibrating slightly staring at the mother of pearl green fin. Carolyn was on the farthest from Douglas on the aft with her mouth was in a hard line as was discreetly slipping off her heels. Douglas wasn't looking at Arthur or Carolyn though, he was looking at the, well, let’s call it what it is, enchanting, merman who was staring at him directly with his red rimmed eyes obviously trying his damnedest to look as brave as he didn't feel. The merman was also gripping onto his biceps much more than was strictly necessary, _as if he’s afraid I’m going to attack him now, or maybe just throw him back in with shark,_ Douglas realized.  


The merman had only been in the raft for about ten seconds before his entire lower half began to glow a faint gold color. When the merman realized he couldn't feel his fin he shot out the Douglas’s lap and flipped himself onto his stomach. He had been rather comfortable resting on the monsters stomach, if not confused and only looked down at his fin long enough to watch his dissolve into the wind as emerald dust and look down to see human legs appear. This was all a little too much for the creature, who let out of whine of despair, his fin is gone, he’s surrounded by monsters who he now looked like and his torso was bloody and stinging he curled into himself on the floor of the raft.  


“Come with us,” Douglas said, too shocked and feeling too protective to stop himself, “our plane has crashed” he points to gert-i and the creature looks on with sudden interest, “but rescue is coming soon so you should come with us and I’ll take care of you.” Douglas doesn't have a chance to take it back, he _should have,_ certainly. This just really devastatingly beautiful creature would have mostly likely not have known a word of English or had other creatures _or maybe people?_ Douglas thinks, unsure of how to categorize them yet, who would have been perfectly willing and much more capable of taking care of him but in innumerable universes where these two beings collide, it was never of moment where either of them took the path of least resistance.  


So instead of just looking at him confusedly or hissing and jumping back into the deep, maybe even dragging Douglas back with him in order to drown him like the smitten sailors in the storybooks, something else entirely happened. And it all happened rather quickly. First, the creatures eyes lit up in understand, realizing that while these creatures may be monsters, they were with the sky whale and they were going take him _with them._ Next the creature sprung up rather suddenly into Douglas arms, nearly tipping him into the ocean, his head now resting on the forward but the back of his neck cushioned be the creatures hands. He was wrapped rather lovingly around with slightly bloodied hand petting the nape of his neck and the creatures legs wrapped around his torso. Lastly in a scratchy but sensually deep and to Douglas’s surprise, genuinely British voice, a delighted shout of, “take me with you!”


	2. The Good Kind of Mermaid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So are you the good kind of mermaid or the bad kind of mermaid?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this on saturday night oopies... I didn't realize just how long this chapter was going to be, so just enjoy the ride I guess! Comments and kudos are obviously and always loved and appreciated!!!

Arthur broke the dense momentary silence that followed Douglas being enthusiastically hugged by the strange ginger merman in his usual manner: by excitedly asking absurd questions.

“So are you the good kind of mermaid or the bad kind of mermaid?”

The merman hummed thoughtfully as he slowly slid out of Douglas’s arms and onto his knees. He turned toward Arthur. “Come again?” he muttered when he finally had a chance to really look at other beings he was now sharing a raft with. He had assumed that these monsters would look, well, more monstrous. They really didn’t though. They looked sort of ridiculous for monsters really. Although the one who had just posed the strange question seemed rather taller than himself and his companions, he certainly had a kind enough presence.

“Are you the good sort of mermaid,” Arthur continued, “who has magic powers and sings and things or are you the bad sort of mermaid who drowns people by seducing them into coming into the water with you-”

At this the gingers jerked forward and injected worryingly, “What?” He reached out toward the larger being and laid a hand on his knee, “Why would I want you to come into the water at all?” He raised an eyebrow. “You can’t swim!”

“Yes we can,” Arthur responded, unconsciously taking his hand off of his bloodied nose and laying it over the merman’s. “Well at least a lot of people can. Mum and Douglas and I definitely can…” Arthur began to ramble.

“Well I don’t want to drown you.” The merman smiled awkwardly; he was starting to get to the point where deep cuts on his torso couldn’t be ignored anymore, but he wanted to find out whether these strange creatures were either a threat or possible allies before he addresses his wounds. “I came to see the sky whale-”

“You mean Gert-i?” Arthur interrupted

The merman sputtered “Wha-what’s a Gert-i?”

“Oh you’ll love her she’s-”

“Arthur!” Carolyn shouted; Arthur would’ve talked the poor creatures ear off if Carolyn hadn’t interrupted. “While I do find the general idea of you trying to teach supernatural beings about aviation amusing…” She breathed deeply, looking past Arthur and the merman to stare down Douglas “If,” she paused, “we actually plan on taking a fish-” the merman opened his mouth to speak- “Oh no, you wait your turn,” the merman flinched, “I’ll be talking to you in a moment, you can count on it!”

She turned her attention back to Douglas. “But right now if this is what’s happening,” she snarled the words in a way that made it painfully obvious that she did not actually approving of what was happening, “how are we going to explain an unaccounted injured naked man with no name, no clothes, and no ID?”

For once, Douglas didn’t really have any kind of plan thought out yet. He simply stared at the ground in deep thought while lightly touching the nape of his neck, where the mysterious creature had been rubbing only a few moments ago.

“Hmm?” Carolyn mocked. “Don’t actually have a plan? What you’re trying to tell me is that you don’t actually have a plan to save a creature whose already broken my son’s nose-”

“Mum it was an accident!” Arthur whined.

“Hush!” Carolyn looked toward her son. “Arthur, light of my life, of course it was, just like it was an accident when he nearly tipped over the raft when he gripped at it from the water

“Oh, Carolyn he was being attacked surely you can’t be serious,” Douglas said.

“Yes but then there was that hug,” Carolyn turned her attention toward the merman now, her tone losing some of it viciousness as if she had just noticed the merman’s taut and nervous body language. “You nearly threw yourself and Douglas off the boat with the force of that hug,” at that the merman flushed. “Or was that an accident too?” she deadpanned.

The merman let out a quiet whine of distress before speaking. “I’m…” He bit his lip, “those were all accidents and I-”

“Of course they were,” Douglas cut off the merman before he had a chance to sputter his way into getting thrown out of the boat. “Carolyn we can’t just leave him here; he’s hurt and anyway, I have a plan!” He smirked triumphantly at Carolyn’s raised eyebrows.

“Oh good!” Arthur let out a sigh a relief, “for a second there-”

“Oh Arthur!” Douglas turned and sighed in mock-disappointment, “Ye of little faith!” Douglas reached for a small-ish paddle under his seat. “Douglas Richardson always has a plan. Also, Arthur, haven’t you been keeping an extra pair of work clothes in Gert-i ever since Istanbul?”

Arthur’s eyes lit up “Oh! Yeah! What about them?” Arthur asked as Douglas handed him the paddle and silently ordered Arthur to paddle the small raft back to Gert-i’s walkway.

“Well in your preparedness we have an extra steward uniform that we can slip on… oh.” The merman turned to Douglas at the quiet ‘oh’: he could tell that that sort of ‘oh’ usually had a question at the end if it.

“What is it?”

“Well,” Douglas turned towards the merman, lifting an eyebrow. “You haven’t told us your name.” Douglas went on when he saw how uncomfortable the merman looked- maybe he wasn’t ready to answer that yet. _Could be some sort of merman cultural thing_ , Douglas thought. “I mean basically we can just call you by your name, or just make it sound more human-y if necessary. I’ll bandage you up myself in Gert-i and,” he turned to Carolyn, “if they ask for his ID we’ll tell them that his wallet must’ve fallen in the ocean when he slipped, which is why he’s soaked.”

“While I admit it’s not my best plan by any means,” the merman didn’t look any less worried so Douglas spoke in his most soothing voice, “it’s better than just throwing you back in the water, don’t you think?”

At that the merman fought the urge to curl into himself and only had a chance to tensely mummer, “Oh please don’t-” before Douglas could physically feel his gut drop; he had to stop the merman from begging.

“No, no please,” the merman paused at Douglas’s surprisely surprisingly gentle tone. “We’re not going to throw you out-” the raft gently bumped into Gert-i and Douglas reached out his hand toward the merman. “Come on. We’re going to get you in some clothes and wrap up those bites.” But the merman didn’t reach for his hand -  his eyes were transfixed on gert-i.

“I was going to say,” the merman said almost off-handedly as if he was only telling him this now so that he could go back to watching Gert-i, “those were all accidents, and I’m not injured, at least I don’t have to remain so. I can heal myself.” The merman turned towards Carolyn for this, “And I can heal Arthur’s nose too, if you want.” He smiled faintly at Carolyn’s surprised face as he gently laid his hands on his side. Without any preamble the skin of his hand shined a faint pale golden color and the wounds slowly sealed up. All that was left were the small trails of blood from where the holes had been.

Douglas and Carolyn were stunned into utter silence. Arthur, not so much.

“That. Was. Brilliant!” Arthur shouted, his voice almost shrill with excitement. “Oh wow you’re going to do that to my nose too! Wow, wow, wow!” Arthur finally took a breathe. “Brilliant!”

The merman flushed pleasantly in response, looking relaxed for the first time since had been there, probably because at some point he had realized that whoever theses creatures were, they weren’t malicious. And now, even though his side was still smarting pretty dreadfully, at least he knew the pain was just a phantom: he was healed.

“Arthur,” the merman turned towards him, “I can only do one of two things. I can make your nose no longer hurt, or I can heal your nose but it will still hurt. Which one do you want?”

Arthur hummed thoughtfully from his seat. “Mum, which am I supposed to pick?”

“Arthur,” Carolyn said, staring disbelievingly, “you are a grown man, you can pick whichever you want.”

Arthur looked at her expectantly, “Which one do I want, then?”

The merman bit back a peal of laughter, so he just smiled as Carolyn answered him, “Goodness- Arthur, ok. It isn’t a bad break so just have him make it stop hurting.”

“Yeah, brilliant. Thanks, Mum.” He turned to the merman. “If you make my nose stop hurting I’ll do something for you,” he told the merman.

“Oh,” the merman chuckled good-naturedly. ”Okay. What would that be then?” The merman sat up so Arthur and him were face to face.

“Well, I was thinking,” Arthur smiled as the merman scooched until they were barely an inch apart, the merman’s hand still at his lap, “Since you don’t seem to want to tell us your name,” at that the merman froze, “I thought maybe you didn’t have one, or maybe you don’t like yours so I thought I could give you one!”

The merman’s hand didn’t leave his thighs as he lightly kissed Arthur’s nose. It was just a press of lips against the bridge of his nose, which began to lightly glow. Douglas felt small tendrils of jealousy seize his gut at the sight, which surprised him; Douglas wasn’t a man prone to jealousy, but he let it go as the merman slowly pulled off of Arthur blushing face.

“So what’s my name?” the merman asked as he pulled away. Arthur mutely put his hand over where the merman lips had been, blushing lightly.

“Ummm…” Arthur answered articulately after a few moments. “kisser-” Arthur sputtered, “I mean Skip!” He caught his train of thought, “I mean, Skipper.”

“Arthur,” Carolyn cut in. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Oh, but Mum.”

“No. Arthur,” Douglas cut in. “Carolyn’s right. And no Ariels either!” Douglas hastily added as soon as he saw the spark start to grow in Arthur’s eyes.

“Oh but Ariel sounds nice though. What’s wrong with that?” Skipper began. As soon as he did though, Douglas and Carolyn gave him looks dirty enough to make him back-track. “Oh, yes well Skipper’s alright too.”

“Skipper is a nickname though,” Arthur said worryingly. “You need a proper first name.”

“And a last name, and clothes. While I admit that rescue probably isn’t going to ask too many questions,” she paused, taking a moment to resign herself to the fact that ‘Operation: smuggle Douglas’s new merman friend to Fitton’ was a go, “they’ll at least ask for his first and last name. Also,” she tacked on helpfully, “Douglas if you’re going to get clothes for Skip you’re going to need to get out of the boat and back into Gert-i. Now,” Carolyn ordered. Despite her harsh tone, she was honestly fairly confident that Douglas was the sort of lucky bastard that could actually sneak a merman past the TSA once he had time to plan it out.

“Right.” Douglas stood. Skip had never noticed how tall Douglas was sitting down. “Will you come, Skip?” Douglas held his hand out for Skip to grip.

Skip blinked. He stared at Douglas’s hand.

He could taste ocean salt on his tongue, a gentle breeze made his hair flutter, his skin felt dry and itchy, he was breathing with human lungs, and for first time he could remember, he had a name.

He grabbed Douglas’s hand.

“Yeah, okay.” Skip smiled nervously. “Will you help me up?”

Douglas grunted and pulled Skip to his feet and Skip used Douglas as support while walking over the inflatable walkway into Gert-i. Once they were inside, Skip’s suspicions were confirmed: Gert-i was just a flying boat. Transport to take…

“Douglas, what are you called?” Skip asked after Douglas led them to the back of the plane and opened up a small cupboard. Douglas looked up quizzically at the question.

“I’m called Douglas,” he said slowly. “Douglas Richardson. I’m the captain of this plane Gert-i.”

“No, no I mean what are all of you called.” Skip mentally looked for the word “You know, as a collective?”

“Umm, you could call us people? Or humans, I suppose.” Douglas scratched his chin and he looked through Arthur’s spare gym bag.

“If you mean as a species.”

“I think I do…” Skip said slowly. “Humans,” He tried out the word - it felt vaguely familiar. “So Gert-i is just a boat that can fly. Just a lot bigger-”

“Well, no, but now isn’t a time to explain this sort of thing,” Douglas cut in. “Now,” he smiled encouragingly, “it’s time for you to put some damn clothes on.” he chuckled lightly when Skip scrunched his nose at the clothes Douglas gave him, but he took them anyway.

_Poor thing_ , Douglas thought even though he nearly laughed out loud as Skip almost fell trying to put on Arthur’s jeans, which were much too big but Skip adamantly refused Douglas’s help. Even when Skip kept overlooking the button holes. But in the end Douglas was proud to admit it only took Skip three minutes to successfully adorn himself in pants, jeans, a belt, a black unbuttoned vest and a red button-up.

Skip was looking at Douglas with such minute smugness it made Douglas debate kissing him or breaking out into sarcastic clapping before he heard Arthur shouting from outside.

Douglas couldn’t hear exactly what Arthur said, but if he had to guess, it’s that rescue is coming and since protocol states that everyone should be in the raft by the time rescue arrives they need to _run_. So Douglas does just that; he grabbed Skip’s hand and began running as Skip let out a yelp in protest. As it turned out, the protest was fairly justified, because before they’ve even gotten onto the inflatable walkway Skip had lost his footing twice. Douglas now realized he’s mostly just dragging an utterly exasperated merman out of the cockpit and onto the walkway.

“Oh come on, Skip, if that’s rescue and they catch us inside Gert-i we’ll get in quite a lot of trouble,” Douglas said as he tried to nudge Skip ahead of him so he’d be easier to guide, but Skip wasn’t having it.

“Yes, well,” Skip huffed as he took his first tentative steps onto the walkway, clearly not trusting his feet, “I’m still fairly new to this whole this walking thing and I’d appreciate it if you’d go easy on me.” By the time Skip is finished speaking however, Douglas was already corralling Skip back onto the raft. Considering he didn’t hear any aircrafts and Carolyn was looking suspiciously smug and Arthur was bouncing in his seat obviously waiting for Skip to sit before speaking…

“Rescue isn’t here yet and Arthur was just shouting, wasn’t he?” Douglas deadpanned.

“Oh my, Douglas, has your hearing already started to suffer in your middle age?” Carolyn teased. Douglas just huffed.

“We’ve come up with a real name for you, Skip!” Arthur bursted, clearly unable to contain himself. Skip just smiled and nodded at him, a little confused, but Arthur’s cheeriness, Skip was beginning to realize, was contagious.

“Well, first of all we’re all probably all going to keep calling you Skip,” Arthur beamed, “but if anyone else asks you for your name you get to say, ‘Eric, Eric Waterford. My middle name’s Griffin. I’m Eric Griffin Waterford!’” Arthur said, gushing with pride, which confused Douglas a bit, as that was only a vaguely silly name.

Before Skip had a chance to respond Douglas just had to ask, “Did you come up with all that, Carolyn?”

“No,” Carolyn said smugly. She was rather proud of her son’s self control this time around, “I did not. The only part I added was “ford” at the end because Eric Griffin Water was just on the wrong side of too much.”

Skip was trying his best not to cry with joy. “That really is a proper name though,” he said with a watery voice filled with wonder. He couldn’t stand to look at any of them right now, or he might actually cry.

“I would be inclined to agree, Eric,” Douglas said soothingly. There was quite a lot of different emotions visible on Eric’s face, and he couldn’t quite tell which side of happy or sad was winning. But before Douglas could figure it out, he heard the sounds of a chopper. _Rescue’s here_.

Douglas and Carolyn told Eric to talk as little as possible on their ride to the airport, they had even given him a basic story to parrot back to the rescue in the unlikely event they would ask.

_And try not look as if you’re new here_ , Douglas had whispered to him just as they stepped into the helicopter, _if at all possible_. And, Eric could be wrong, but he got a distinct impression that  Douglas didn’t think he could.

Eric sat when instructed and Arthur slyly clipped his seatbelt on for him before the rescue team had to remind him. They don’t ask him any questions. Carolyn and Douglas kept them busy until they landed back at the Miami airport after about a half hour ride. When they landed, Arthur and Eric were promptly sent into a terminal to find food while Douglas and Carolyn spoke to the airport manager to see what could be done with Gert-i.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Five millions thanks to princesscocoa for beta-ing this chapter. :*  
> I honestly can't wait to write chapter three so expect an update within the week!


	3. The Difference Between Stressed and Desserts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur continues his quest to show his new friend the wonders of life on the surface- it goes as well as anyone would expect. But at least there's mcdonalds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really looking forward to writing this chapter and I hope you guys were looking forward to reading this! If I may say so I thought this turned out very well. Although that may just be the totally chuffed feeling of finally forcing Cabin Pressure characters to not _only_ eat at McDonalds, but also enjoying it, talking. Either way. Hah.

Eric fidgeted nervously as he watched Carolyn clutch her temple with one hand while gesturing towards the inner terminals. “Code Red, Arthur,” she ordered through clenched teeth. “Go fast and go now.”  


Arthur muttered a quick “oh, right,” before he began to quickly walk away. Eric felt a pang of jealousy. Wherever Arthur was going to smelled rather good, and Eric was really hungry. _Code Red doesn’t sound like a good thing though,_ Eric thought, _so I probably won’t be getting food._ Eric’s eyes felt droopy too, _I probably won’t be sleeping wherever I’m going either. Even sitting would sound nice right now._  


After a moment, Carolyn turned towards Eric and added, “Oh for goodness’ sake. Eric, go after him.” Eric jumped a little when Carolyn slipped the company card into his palm. “And take this card and have Arthur buy dinner for the both of you.” Eric just looked at her confusedly before she gave him a gentle nudge and shooed him toward the direction that Arthur had run off to. Eric let his feet take him.  


Eric experimented with walking as he went. He didn’t have shoes on (Douglas was able to convince rescue he had lost them), though Eric was grateful that they hadn’t forced him into shoes. _I’m already wearing enough clothing as it is._ He dragged his feet on the cold tiles and his toes tingled pleasantly: walking feels oddly natural. Even though they were inside and it was night, the air was hot and heavy, and the lights were too bright: they hurt his eyes.  


Eric caught up to Arthur, finding that even though he’d been sent away he’s still humming and walking with his usual spring. Eric didn’t know whether or not that was Arthur’s usual gait, though he assumed so.  


Since they had gotten to the airport he’d been paying special attention to how his new rescuers walk. His favorite walk was Douglas’s; Douglas walks like he rules the world. To be honest Eric was conflicted between finding that annoying or enchanting.  


Since Eric didn’t announce his presence, Arthur didn’t notice him until he abruptly stopped walking and Eric lightly bumped into him. _Obviously I still need more practice._  


“Oi!” Arthur said as he turned toward Eric, surprised. “Oh, Eric! I didn’t realize you were following me!” Arthur lit up, as if it was some precious gesture. “If I had realized I would have been telling you more about how to live on the top side-”  


“Arthur,” Eric smiled. He didn’t have the heart to tell him that Arthur’s earlier lecture didn’t make any sense then and any renewal probably won’t make any sense now. “Your mum gave me this.” He quickly handed Arthur the card. “So we could get food. I’m actually pretty hungry,” Eric said hurriedly when he could already see the signs of Arthur about to interrupt him, “so let’s save the next speech for after we get food at least.” _And I really need to sit down, it’s been a rather long day,_ Eric bit his tongue to keep from adding that particular thought; he didn’t want to put anymore of his pride on the line than he already has.  


“Wow, this is the company card Skip!” Arthur whispered conspiratorially. “Which is good because I have almost no money anyway.”  


“And-,” Arthur threw his hand up to the left where he made a sweeping gesture towards the large airport McDonald’s, “since we’re in America, we can eat at McDonald’s!” Arthur then grabbed Eric’s now-free hand and eagerly dragged him to the counter.  


Eric didn’t really understand Arthur’s enthusiasm at eating at a McDonald’s, _not that I really understand Arthur’s enthusiasm for anything else,_ but it’s blessedly unoccupied and did smell heavily of salt. And even though it was his plan to not return to the ocean, _at least not without my family,_ it was nice to be surrounded by something familiar.  


Arthur was currently dragging him towards the only other soul in the restaurant: a tired looking young woman with long brown hair held up in a neat bun and held back by a visor. Arthur recited a rapid fire order that Eric didn’t even bother to listen to. _As long as it’s food,_ Eric thought.  


Finally, blessedly, Eric got to sit down while Arthur waited at the counter for their food. He really was quite hungry. Also, his clothes were sticky with sweat and his hair was stiff from the salt water. His stomach muscles were sore and his eyelids and feet were lead. Arthur came back with the food before Eric had a chance to lose his battle against sleep.  


“It’s been a long day, huh?” Arthur said softly. “But falling asleep hungry is awful, so I got us a _lot_ to eat!” Arthur handed Eric a drink tall enough to quench the thirst of a horse. “I got ten chicken nuggets for each of us, large fries and two unsweetened iced teas. Which, if you really are British, I’ll warn you aren’t anything like British tea but I still like them so-”  


Eric let out a hum in hopes of getting Arthur to stop talking and it worked. Eric had taken a sip of his ice tea as Arthur talked.  
“The tea’s rather good,” Eric murmured before yawning. “But let’s just eat.”  


So for the next few moments they did. And after another few moments Arthur’s pocket let out a loud ting. Eric only raised his eyebrows as Arthur dug into his pocket and pulled out a small black glass _box?_ He brought it up to his face. loudly tapping away at it before it made a whoosh noise and, seemingly satisfied, he put it in on the table on the opposite side of his drink.  


“What’s that?” Eric asked offhandedly before taking another sip of his iced tea, half genuinely curious, half just wanting to eat without being dragged into another confusing speech. But Arthur took the bait.  


“It’s a phone, and well,” Arthur said guiltily, “it’s not really magic like you’re magic, but it’s a human of magic magic!” Eric hummed in response, putting down his last fry. _A… particularly magic box._ “You could ask it anything in the world and it will probably know the answer,” Arthur continued excitedly.  
“Anything?” Eric asked before he could control the harsh urgency in his voice. He kept himself from reaching out for the phone in Arthur’s hand but his whole body had lurched toward Arthur in the process, his hand sliding across the table, his right palm facing upwards.  


“Uh,” Arthur winced and leaned back. He didn’t hand Eric the phone. “Not _anything;_ I mean some things-”  


“Can I ask it something, Arthur?” Eric was able to hide most of the growl this time.  


Arthur, feeling uneasy, was momentarily reminded of his mum’s accusations toward Eric earlier. Yet when Eric exhaled after a moment of tense silence, Arthur finally saw just how tired Eric was and began to speak softly.  


“So,” Eric looked up when Arthur paused, “I’m just going to turn on Siri and then you ask your question… Okay?”  


Eric breathed in deeply, “Ok.” He blinked at the black lit-up phone. He looked at Arthur who looked vaguely nervous and he wished that wasn’t his fault. Within the next moment, the phone pinged encouragingly.  


“Where’s my family?”  


“Oh, Skip,” Arthur breathed before the phone had time to load, “it’s not going to know a question like that.”  


“Why?” Eric snapped before he could stop himself. He _did_ stop at Arthur’s reactionary flinch and blinked. He took a last sip of his iced tea to compose himself. “Why not?” he finally murmured quietly, though it really wasn’t a question. “Do you think it might know my real name then, if I asked it?” Eric rubbed his hand over his face and eyes while he waited for Arthur to answer. He didn’t hold out much hope.  


“I’m sorry Eric, that isn’t the sort of question it’ll know the answer to,” Arthur said apologetically. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t find them without Google!” Arthur said cheerily; Eric could already tell Arthur was the sort who’d always trying to cheer others up, so he gave him a hopeful smile.  


“Oh, yeah?” Eric said almost airily, trying to force himself out of his dark mood for both of their sakes. “How do you think we could find them?”  


“Oh,” Arthur said confidently, “Well you see, since you’re new here, there’s something you don’t know about MJN yet.”  


“What’s that?” Eric asked curiously.  


“Whenever we have a problem Douglas will do something clever and then everything will be fine.”  


Eric raised an eyebrow at this but Arthur looked so sure of himself that Eric couldn’t help but laugh.  


“It’s true though!” Arthur laughed with him and after a moment their laughs were loud enough for the cashier to eye them accusingly. Embarrassed, they slowly quieted down, and after a few moments they resumed eating in calm silence.  


Silences rarely last long where Arthur is involved, though, and after a few moments Arthur and Eric began to chat amicably, swapping little stories about flying or swimming. This went on for about ten minutes before all of their food was gone and Eric rubbed his stomach contently, feeling _utterly full_ for the first time in ages.  


“Oh, but Skip,” Arthur moaned, “you haven’t even had dessert yet!”  


“Dessert?” Eric sputtered. “I couldn’t possibly-”  


“Skip!” Arthur gasped, as if he had just uttered a great blasphemy, “you know that isn’t true! You very, _very_ possibly could have more!” Arthur waved the company card in Eric’s face teasingly. Eric laughed while swatting at it.  


“Fine!” Eric snickered, “fine. Go get us dessert then!”  


Arthur lept up and quickly walked the few steps to the counter. He came back after almost a minute.  


“Why do we need dessert so desperately anyway?” Eric asked curiously as Arthur sat back down and handed Eric his Oreo Mcflurry and began to dig into his own.  


“Do you know the difference between stressed and desserts, Skip?” Arthur asked a few moments later. Eric tried not to grunt in response - he’d never liked having his questions answered with other questions. He settled for shaking his head in the negative.  


“Well,” Arthur said slowly, “stressed is just desserts spelled backwards, and I can’t imagine a better cure for it.”  


“Arthur that’s just ridiculous,” Eric said with a smile just before he spooned some of his Oreo McFlurry.  


“Wait!” Arthur suddenly shouted, scrambling for his phone. “I forgot to let Minty know I’m not going to be in Fitton for our date!”  


“What’s a Minty?” Eric asked awkwardly.  


Arthur actually laughed for a moment. “That’s what mum said when I told her we were dating too. Minty’s my girlfriend and she’ll be thinking that I’m about to land back in Fitton for our date tonight but obviously I’m not because I’m still in Miami…” Arthur fidgeted uncomfortably at the thought of having to let Minty know that he won’t be home in time. She had a way of being shouty _even over text._  


 _But there’s always the easy way out._ Arthur smiled at Eric conspiratorially.  


“Eric. Smile for me?” Arthur asked as he opened up his Snapchat.  


Eric initially stammered at the request before letting out a small smile, and on a strange impulse, raised up a small “v” sign.  


“Brilliant!” Arthur exclaimed as his phone made a shutter sound. He typed a few words and sent it away, smiling at Eric’s confusion. “Oh he’ll love this.”  


“Who?” Eric asked.  


Arthur smiled mischievously.  


“Douglas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously this whole endeavor would be utter shit without my tireless beta: Allie. While I may never be able to express my thanks enough, may you never feel thankless


	4. I'm Not Going to Forget This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh, Carolyn,” snark positively oozed off of Douglas’s honey voice. He was fully aware that Carolyn hated when Douglas did this, and that whenever Carolyn was angry, she was much more likely to tell Douglas about her plans. “Is this your way of trying to get alone with me?”  
> “Douglas, be quiet.” Carolyn snaps almost playfully. Douglas didn’t realize it, but she wasn’t going to take the bait just yet.  
> “Right-o.” Douglas grinned, thinking he had won.   
> “But also, yes.” Carolyn deadpanned.  
> “Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope none of you were expecting this chapter to be posted by the weekend, life's gotten rather hectic on my end with sick teachers and midterms and ao3 not working and the like so I couldn't publish until now, sorry. The chapters after this may take longer to write too, but anyway I hope this was worth the wait for you guys! Thanks again to my amazing beta Allie, whose selfies are beautiful and grammar is brilliant! Kudos and comments are the reason my poor little heart beats, so please leave some!

Carolyn could see Eric stiffen from the corner of her eyes as she rubbed her temple. She didn’t mean to make the poor boy more nervous than he must already be as a result of being stuck in the wrong world with shouty strangers, but she couldn’t stop herself. The irritation rolled off her in waves as Arthur’s voice crashed into her headspace - he was in one of his ‘helpful moods.’ Arthur was a sweet boy to try to explain to Eric the inner workings of airports and planes, but it was obvious that his method of ‘helping’ was only making Eric more confused. Hopefully he understood that his confusion towards Arthur’s distorted lexicon was an universal reaction. Despite Eric’s lack of complaint to Carolyn, he had to be stopped. Or at least sent away from her.

“Code Red, Arthur go fast and go now,” she ordered feeling a guilty rush of relief while she watched Arthur wander into the inner terminal, looking unaffected. It took her but a moment to realize that Eric was squirming next to her. She ordered him away too, but not before handing him the company card and ordering him to find food. Douglas spared a glance at Eric’s coltish retreat, quietly hoping that wherever Arthur ended up sent them, Eric and him some real food: heaven knows he could stand to eat more. 

In the back of his mind, though, Douglas knew Arthur and Eric’s sudden departure didn’t bode well for him. 

He wouldn’t dare look at Carolyn now. He knew that Carolyn was even less supportive of his decision to smuggle Eric back to Fitton than she let on in front of Arthur. He also knew that crashing Gert-i most likely meant the end of MJN. Now that they were alone, he knew that she wasn’t going to hold back her contempt, and he didn’t want to engage with her until he was ready for a proper fight. After almost a minute of looking anywhere but at Carolyn, though, he could no longer ignore the eyes burning at the back of his head.

As he turned his head to meet Carolyn’s gaze, he was instead greeted with the sight of a skittish-looking bespeckled Indian man with a name tag reading _Benjamin Gupta: Secondary Airport Engineer._ As luck would have it, it would seem, as Carolyn’s current glare could kill millions.He seemed to be trying to wordlessly get Carolyn’s attention; _unsuccessfully._

“Are you Ms. Knapp-Shappey?” the man finally said as Carolyn stopped glaring at Douglas long enough to notice the man who had been silently trying to get her attention a moment ago.

“Yes?” Carolyn breathed with the most transparently unpleasant pleasant voice Douglas had ever heard.

“We’ve,” the poor man stuttered, “we’ve assessed the plane.”

“Well,” Carolyn said confidently, “what’s the prognosis?” The spot of breeziness in her voice caused Douglas to glance at her curiously. The casual attitude seemed a little misplaced, given that they- in all likelihood- were staring at the end of MJN. 

“Well there’s moderate damage to the starboard engine and some damage to the fuselage.” The engineered smiled encouragingly at the both of them. “It could have been a lot worst.” Benjamin let out a small laugh and Douglas and Carolyn had only just enough self-control not to blanch at the dark insinuation.

“You must be the captain,” Benjamin said conversationally, turning toward Douglas.

“Yes,” Douglas answered slowly, not wanting to incur questions or judgements, but also not wanting to sound like he wasn’t ready for those questions and judgements. He wasn’t going to get his wish.

“Well,” the engineered jested, “everyone’s very lucky that you were. The way you landed that plane must have been some fine piloting. I mean it wasn’t impossible but-”

“Yes,” Douglas interrupted, “yes, thank you, I suppose it was.” _And it would have been even better piloting,_ Douglas’s mind whispered viciously, _if you hadn’t crashed at all; MJN is going to die because of this._ Douglas' sudden acidic thoughts made him snarl and reminded him of Carolyn’s seemingly indifference. _Why is Carolyn so calm?_

Benjamin swallowed, embarrassed and confused. “Well,” he began, “overall we could have it airworthy by tomorrow afternoon.” He paused. “If that’s what you’d like to do,” he added, worried his presumption that they wanted to fix the old plane might be another faux pas.

“Oh, don’t worry: you’ll be her fixing straight away,” Carolyn said smoothly, hoping to nip Douglas’s sour mood right in the bud. “I’ll need to make a phone call, but you can go back to Gert-i and start now.” Carolyn turns to Douglas - whose dark mood was rapidly being replaced with a curious one - with a nearly indecent smirk. “Now if you’ll excuse us.” Abruptly Carolyn linked arms with Douglas and he let her lead him in the other direction. The engineer did not call them back. He simply huffed indignantly as he went back to his office.

After a few moments of walking in silence, Douglas found himself to be rather confused but also rather pleased with Carolyn. _Of course,_ Douglas thought, smiling saucily as the began to turn into the next terminal, _she has a plan._ Once the wall that divided the terminals blocked the engineers view of them Carolyn immediately slipped her arm away and turned to him, her glare returning with full force. The sheer power of the glare was wasted in the end; Douglas was less cowed and more curious now, and a little proud. 

“Oh, Carolyn,” snark positively oozed off of Douglas’s honey voice. He was fully aware that Carolyn hated when Douglas did this, and that whenever Carolyn was angry, she was much more likely to tell Douglas about her plans. “Is this your way of trying to get alone with me?”

“Douglas, be quiet.” Carolyn snaps almost playfully. Douglas didn’t realize it, but she wasn’t going to take the bait just yet.

“Right-o.” Douglas grinned, thinking he had won.

“But also, yes.” Carolyn deadpanned.

“Oh.” Douglas winced as he sat down in passenger waiting area. Carolyn took the seat to his right. “Well then,” Douglas hesitated as he turned to face her, “I’m beginning to suppose that I’m not, in fact, out of the job because of Gert-i’s damage.” Douglas stated.

“Oh, Douglas,” Carolyn interjected condescendingly, “in case you haven’t been paying attention to the three years you’ve been working with me, gert-i’s damage is the least of your worries. Honestly, Douglas I have an almost endless supply of reasons to fire you.” 

“I wouldn’t say endless…” Douglas grumbled.

“I would!” Carolyn shouted. “But-,” her voice softened, “in the past three years you’ve saved MJN nearly as many times as I have and-” Douglas watched her take a deep breath, her hand squeezing her armrest so tightly her fingers paled. “And you saved Gert-i and Arthur and I today.” It took every ounce of Douglas’s self control not to blanch at Carolyn’s honestly; neither one of them were any good at this sort of frankness. Douglas sighed, knowing that the tentative friendship wouldn’t survive with only one of them being honest.

“Well yes,” Douglas muttered, “but that was just me trying not to die.” The audible tremble in Douglas’s voice made him want to pull his hair out.

“Yes, but thanks to your ‘just trying not to die’ everyone survived,” Carolyn said assuringly. “And while I’m not an aviation expert,” She began, Douglas snorting instinctively at the understatement.

Carolyn glared for a moment before continuing. “I understand,” she gulped. “I understand that landing as we did was a miracle.”

Douglas lets out a small cough in way of a thank you.

“Now savor this Douglas,” Douglas smiled, intrigued, “because I am never, ever going to say something like this again but-” Carolyn gave Douglas a hard look. “Douglas, I would never fire you,” she said haughtily.

“Why, Carolyn…” Douglas felt something inside his heart swell enormously, it was either his respect and fondness for Carolyn or his ego. He suspected it was his ego.

“But that doesn’t mean you are getting a free ride,” Carolyn scolded, her pre-prepared reprimand in full swing. “Your actions have consequences. I may turn a blind eye to smuggling small things, but this!” She paused to take a deep breath and run a hand through her hair as she pointed in the general direction she had sent Eric and Arthur. “This is much bigger than a couple dozen tulips or a handful of sardines. This is.” She lowered her voice, paranoid. “Douglas, this is transatlantic human smuggling.”

“This isn’t like that and you know it,” Douglas snarled, angry that she was, at the heart of it, right. _But she also wasn’t,_ Douglas wanted to spit out, _this wasn’t like the tulips or sardines at all: I’m actually helping someone this time around._

“Douglas!” She sputtered in surprise, thrown off guard by Douglas’s quick temper. “This is an entirely different risk and even if we get him into England, what then?” she asked. “I don’t imagine we can just drop him off at the airport and expect someone to be there to pick him up,” she sarcastically added.

That shut Douglas up for a moment; it wasn’t that he didn’t have a response, he just knew Carolyn wouldn’t like it.“I already told him,” he replied slowly. “He can stay with me.”

Carolyn sighed extravagantly at that. “Oh Douglas be serious,” she scoffed. “If this has to do with your divorce...”

Douglas’s bristled automatically. “It doesn’t!” He shot back.

Carolyn raised her hands in mock surrender. “Douglas, you can’t just drag any attractive stranger you please across the Atlantic,” she urged placatingly.

“I could if I wanted to, certainly.” Douglas snorted at that perceived jab before turning serious. “And this time I will!” He shot out of his seat. He didn’t try to tower over Carolyn though, but instead began walking toward the bathroom. Carolyn followed him regardless.

“Douglas!” She called after him, affronted. “Get back here!”

““I just want some damn water,” he snarled, turning to face her down. She stood her ground though, and Douglas deflated.

““Get your damn water,” Carolyn sighed. Douglas did.

“He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until he turned on the fountain... Or how tired or hungry or how grimy his clothes felt on his skin. Damn this humidity. The water from the fountain was blessedly cold; the stream was a little too enthusiastic though, some water spraying his shirt. He cupped some in his hand and wiped his face and hair. He could feel some of the tension of the crash swirl down the drain with the excess water. By the time he turned to face Carolyn, she was smiling.

““Water hog,” she muttered fondly as he stepped away from the fountain, giving Carolyn a turn. He knew, then, that Carolyn was going to let him smuggle Eric back.

““Eric is probably an even bigger water hog than me,” Douglas said fondly as they sat back down. Carolyn chuckled. They sat in silence for a minute. Douglas didn’t bother looking at his watch but it was clearly late and even large international airports like the one they had found themselves in have lull hours. It wasn’t quiet, per se, but the intercom, the sounds of engines, and sparse chatter were largely soothing.

““So,” Douglas resumed tentatively after a few minutes of silence, not really wanting to spoil the recent peace, but he was still dreadfully curious. “How are we paying for Gert-i’s repairs, surely we can’t be paying out of pocket.” Carolyn snorted at that. “And I don’t recall us having insurance…” he trailed off, the ‘and clearly you have a plan,’ implied.

““Well.” Carolyn smiled hugely, her eyes twinkled. “Do you remember how I do ever so love two things: annoying my ex-husband Gordon and not having to pay for things?”

““Why,” Douglas said in mock-surprise, “yes I do.”

““You see,” she sighed happily, “I am in luck!” She clasped her hands together. “Because in the divorce I received two things. Officially I received Gert-i and unofficially I received a promise.” The way she enunciated ‘received’ made it sound less like a gift and more like a stolen sacrifice. “A promise that if Gert-i ever absolutely needed to repaired, Gordon would have to foot the bill.”

“Douglas barked out a laugh in disbelief. “God, really?” He smiled. “Glad I never married you!” Carolyn laughed in response. After a few moments, though, they both noticed the only other poor sod in the gate who had been trying to sleep but was now glaring at them for all he was worth. Successfully cowed they let the laughter die naturally and sat for a few minutes in comfortable silence.

““I’m not going to forget this, you know,” Carolyn said suddenly after a few minutes. Douglas made a quizzical sound in response.

““I’m going to go along with your plan to smuggle Eric home.” Carolyn turned to him, deadly serious. “But I’m not going to forget the day you put my son, my airdot, and myself in great danger by smuggling a mythical being across the Atlantic.”

“Douglas could only bow his head in response. He knew that there would be retribution for so blatantly putting MJN in danger twice in one day, but the direct threat still unnerved him. It took him a beat longer than usually to come up with a witty response.

““Will you remember it fondly?” Douglas finally joked.

““Probably, yes,” Carolyn deadpanned. They both just simply smiled for a few moments before Douglas absentmindedly took his phone out of his pocket, his hands itching for something to hold. To his surprise he found that he had a missed message. Well. Not a message: a Snapchat.

“Douglas’s ensuing inquisitive hum caught Carolyn’s attention. Douglas ignored her curious stare in order to unlock his phone.

““It must be five in the morning back in Fitton, who could be texting you?”

““Arthur, although it isn’t a text,” he admitted.

““Huh,” Carolyn mumbled before a light came into her eyes and a smirk came over her face. “Oh Douglas did you finally give in and get that silly app he’s been begging you about?” Carolyn teased. She was doubly pleased at the chance to tease Douglas and to celebrate a win for Arthur. “Aren’t we a little old for those sorts of things?” she continued.

““First off,” Douglas said snidely, “I am almost ten years younger than you, so don’t lump us together. It’s not as if there are any age restrictions for something so silly, anyway.” At Carolyn’s subsequent scoff Douglas added, “And say what you will about most of his pictures but those clips of Snoopadoop eating peanut butter while you scold Herc in the background have a certain je ne sais quoi about them.”

“At that Carolyn had to bite back a growl. Douglas ignored her to bask in his triumph before opening up the message, caught between being certain of what the picture held - a photo of subpar airport food or interesting carpet patterns - and what (or rather, who) he hoped was in the photo.

“The grin that broke apart Douglas’s face in response to the picture was unstoppable. Eric’s flushed face and timid smile lit up the small phone screen. Douglas nearly cooed as his phone flashed, signaling that he had successfully taken a screenshot. The photo also had a message and Douglas exited the app to reread it. He could nearly hear Carolyn roll her eyes as she read the message from over his shoulder.

_““Gert-i crashed but I made a new friend!”_

**Author's Note:**

> [read this is roger allam's voice annnnnnd go!] Allie, Courtney and Jo this story would be 1000% impossible without you all muchas muchas gracias i love you all to the very littlest of pieces of you kissy kissy sounds.


End file.
